Chapter 20

CHAPTERTWENTY

This had to work. It had to. If not, they were all screwed.

This was nothing like Cora ever thought would happen to her. When she’d decided to try to win a date with one of the owners of The Refuge, she never expected to end up here. From traveling to New Mexico, clicking with the women there, being here in Arizona with Pipe, having the best sex of her life, falling in love, being gassed, finding Lara alive—but in much worse shape than she’d imagined—and now playing the role of a lifetime.

Cora screamed as loud as she could, pounding on the door so hard, she knew she’d have bruises on her hands. They needed someone to come investigate what the hell was happening before Creepy Guy blew up their Jeep. They had to assume he’d then kill Pipe and Owl, and steal away with Lara and Cora in the confusion of all the firetrucks and police cars that were sure to arrive en masse.

And she had no doubt Creepy Guy would take her and Lara. He was a rapist and a murderer, and she did not want to imagine what he’d do if he was able to kidnap them both. They didn’t know the details of everything he’d done to women he’d killed in the past, but Cora had a very good imagination, especially after seeing Lara’s condition.

It finally occurred to her, as she pounded on the door and yelled for all she was worth, that it probably wasn’t Ridge who’d hurt Lara. Yes, it was possible he’d come home from the strip club every night and messed with her, but she guessed it was more likely Creepy Guy the whole time. Maybe he was the one who’d convinced Ridge to bring Lara to Arizona in the first place. It made her sick to think that this kind of abuse had been premeditated.

They had to get out of this damn room.

Cora looked over at Pipe as she continued screaming. He was standing behind where the door would open, every muscle ready to act. To defend all of them. They’d talked about who might show up before she started her playacting. They hoped the second bodyguard, Arlo Harvey, would be the one to arrive. Or literally anyone else who worked in the house. If they didn’t know what was happening in the basement right under their noses, they wouldn’t be prepared for Pipe to attack when the door opened.

But if Creepy Guy made it back to the house and heard the commotion, he’d be ready.

Even though her throat hurt, Cora didn’t stop screaming. She’d yell herself hoarse if that was what it took. She gave the performance of her life, which it literally was.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, she heard the dead bolt scrape along steel as someone began to unlock the door.

Her heart beat a million miles an hour as she glanced at Pipe. To her amazement, he gave her a reassuring nod. Here he was, about to fight whoever was on the other side of the door with nothing but his bare hands, and he was reassuring her.

“Please! Let me out! My friend needs help! I think she’s dying!” Cora yelled, moving back, letting Pipe get in front of her. His muscles were tense as he stared intently at the opening of the door.

To her surprise, instead of waiting for whoever was on the other side to actually enter the room, as soon as the opening was wide enough, he lunged forward, reaching out and pulling the person into the room.

Cora’s heart fell to the floor when she saw Pipe wrestling with Creepy Guy. The one person they didn’t want to come investigate.

Pipe and CG fell to the floor with a grunt and the fight was on. Cora knew Pipe had hoped to subdue whoever entered the room quickly, but it was immediately clear that CG wasn’t going down easy. In fact, as they exchanged blows, it seemed he had way more hand-to-hand combat experience than the average person.

For every blow that Pipe landed, Creepy Guy was getting in one of his own. The impression Cora had gotten while back at The Refuge was that there weren’t many men who could match Pipe when it came to fighting. But it was taking all his concentration not to be overpowered or disabled by a blow to a kidney.

Owl leaped into the fray, doing his best to assist Pipe, but Creepy Guy was a monster with muscles. Fighting off both men as if it was nothing. The thought flashed through Cora’s head that no woman would have a chance against this guy. She was certain he had either a military background or some sort of martial arts training. The thought of him touching Lara made Cora grit her teeth and want to throw up.

The men were all grunting, none of them speaking as they literally fought for their lives. It was eerie. And brutal. Pipe and Owl weren’t pulling their punches, but neither was Creepy Guy. They were all fighting dirty, doing everything they could do to take the other down.

Cora gasped when Creepy Guy landed a hard blow to the side of Pipe’s head that had him stumbling back and momentarily stunned. He then kicked Owl in the stomach, which sent him careening across the floor, landing hard on his ass.

In seconds, he’d turned his attention toward her—making Cora’s heart stop. The look in his eyes was chilling.

If he got his hands on her, he’d use Cora as leverage to make Pipe and Owl back off. She knew that as well as she knew her name.

Creepy Guy rushed at her before Pipe or Owl could get back up and attack. Cora’s life flashed in front of her eyes and she did the only thing she could think of…

She ducked.

Surprisingly, Creepy Guy’s lunge had him stumbling past her.

She moved without thought, leaping onto his back as if she were some sort of WWF champion.

Remembering what Pipe had told her back at The Refuge…two days ago? Three? She wasn’t sure, but his advice echoed in her head as clear as day.

I guarantee someone will let go of you immediately if you stick your finger in their eye. That gives you time to get the hell away from him or her and get help. That should be your goal—not standing and fighting, but getting away.

She screamed, a feral sound that came from deep within her soul as she grabbed his hair with one hand and wrapped her legs around his waist. Then she swung her other hand around, her thumb aimed for his right eye.

The sound his eye made as she pierced his eyeball with her nail made her want to puke. Not to mention the way it squished against her thumb. But instead of letting go at his roar of pain, Cora pushed harder and twisted her hand for good measure.

To make sure this asshole was as incapacitated as possible, she let go of his hair and used her other hand to jam her index finger up his nose.

That was gross…but not as disgusting as the liquid from his eyeball coating her thumb and running down her wrist.

Creepy Guy howled and thrashed in pain.

Satisfaction swam in Cora’s veins, but it was brief moment of triumph because CG reached behind him and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He literally pulled her over his shoulder by her hair and threw her across the room.

It all happened so fast. Cora’s head throbbed from where he’d pulled out a hunk of her hair, but she barely registered the sensation before she hit the wall. Hard.

So hard her vision went black for a moment and there was a loud ringing in her ears, blocking out all other sound.

She lay slumped against the wall, trying to get her bearings. Shit. She hurt. All over. Her head, her ass where she’d landed, her arm.

She moved slightly, and gasped in pain as she realized she couldn’t move her right arm without feeling as if she was going to pass out. Looking down, she saw a huge lump in the middle of her right forearm. It was so deformed, she knew it was broken. Cora had never had a broken bone before, but she’d seen a guy fall down a flight of stairs, and his arm had looked a lot like hers.

Then she saw the blood and gore on her hand from Creepy Guy’s eye. She gagged at the sight.

A noise finally registered, and she realized it was Owl, yelling at her.

“Cora! Are you all right? Shit! Talk to me!”

Blinking, Cora turned her head toward the fight that had resumed after CG had thrown her. Owl and Pipe were both punching and kicking their target over and over, with what seemed to be a lot more fury than before she’d been hurt.

“I’m okay,” she told him, her voice a little weak.

Looking toward the bed to check on Lara, she saw that her friend still seemed to be unconscious. She hadn’t moved, even with the noise of the fight going on feet from where she lay. Cora frowned in worry, but her thoughts turned back toward the fight when she heard a strange noise.

She inhaled sharply at the sight in front of her.

Seconds ago the fight had been full-on, with fists and feet being thrown and Creepy Guy trying to fend off both Pipe and Owl. Now, Pipe had finally gotten the upper hand. He knelt behind CG, his arm around the man’s neck, while Owl held his arms tightly so he couldn’t break free.

The sound she’d heard was CG gurgling, his breath rasping as he tried desperately to get air into his lungs.

Cora had the brief thought that she should be more disturbed about the scene in front of her than she was, but when she considered Lara’s condition, she silently hoped her man killed the bastard.

Blood ran down CG’s face from where she’d tried to take out his eye, and from where she was sitting, it looked as if she might’ve succeeded. Good. Served the sicko right.

One second Creepy Guy was kneeling, and the next, Pipe was dropping his unconscious body to the floor.

As Owl turned to the bed to check on Lara, Pipe said, “We need to go.”

If Cora could’ve, she would’ve jumped Pipe right then and there. His hair was sticking up all over his head, his T-shirt was torn, he was breathing hard, had blood on his arms—Cora really hoped it was Creepy Guy’s blood and not his own—and his lip was also bloody and swollen from where he’d been hit in the face several times. But he was literally the sexiest man she’d ever seen in her life.

“Cora?” he asked as he took two steps toward her. He knelt down and his eyes raked down her body, as if he could see through her clothes to see if she was hurt. He inhaled sharply when he saw her arm.

“I think it’s broken,” she said, not recognizing the sound of her own voice.

Pipe reached out a hand and palmed the back of her head before resting his forehead against hers so gently, it was as if they were in the middle of some romantic night out rather than in the basement of a kidnapper’s house, after being drugged and injured.

“Bloody hell,” he whispered.

“I did what you told me to,” she whispered. “I went for the soft tissue.”

“You did good, love,” he said.

Those four words meant more than Cora could express. She half expected him to get mad that she’d put herself in danger, getting hurt in the process. But instead, he understood that they’d all been in deep shit, and she’d done what she needed to do in order to give him and Owl a chance to overcome the threat.

“Is he dead?” she whispered.

“No.”

Cora blinked at that. “Why not?”

To her surprise, Pipe drew back and looked at her with a serious expression. “Because unlike that arsehole, I’m not a murderer.”

“But we can’t let him get away!” she protested.

“We’ll call the police as soon as possible. My main concern right now is getting you and Lara away from here and to a doctor.”

Cora couldn’t argue with that. At least the part about making sure Lara was safe. As for herself, she didn’t like doctors. Never had, never would.

“Speaking of which, it’s been twelve minutes. We need to go,” Owl said.

Pipe nodded but didn’t look at his friend. He stood, then reached down for Cora. She stood with his help and promptly swayed.

“What hurts?” Pipe asked urgently.

“Um…everything?” Cora said without thought.

To her surprise, Pipe picked her up as if she weighed nothing at all. She let out a screech and wrapped her good arm around his neck.

“I’ve got you,” he soothed. “Owl, you okay with her?”

Looking over at the bed, Cora saw Owl was holding Lara in his arms. They were about the same height, so she looked a little awkward in his arms, but with the amount of weight Lara had clearly lost, Owl seemed to be able to carry her without issue.

“Yes,” he told Pipe curtly.

Without another word, Pipe headed for the door. They were indeed in a basement. The room they were in was at the back of a larger space. The rest of the basement was filled with boxes upon boxes. No wonder no one knew Lara was there, it didn’t look as if anyone had been down there in ages. They went up a flight of stairs and exited into a hallway.

It was eerie how they didn’t encounter anyone. The house was completely silent and seemingly empty.

Until a woman holding an honest-to-God feather duster, and wearing an apron, stepped out of a room in front of them and stopped dead in her tracks. She stared at them in astonishment, her mouth open in shock. It was confirmation in Cora’s eyes that most of the employees had probably been kept in the dark about what was happening in the basement. That they didn’t know Ridge Michaels and his bodyguard were up to no good right under their noses.

“Where’s the helipad?” Pipe barked in a low, mean tone.

The woman jerked in surprise at the menace in his voice and pointed down the hall.

Pipe brushed past her. Cora’s legs almost hit her in the face, but she stepped back into the room she’d just exited.

Looking over Pipe’s shoulder, Cora saw a shirtless Owl right on their heels. Lara’s bare legs bounced as he walked, and while his shirt was big on her friend, it wasn’t nearly long enough.

Hatred welled up within Cora again. Lara had been through hell, and she didn’t know if she hated Creepy Guy or Ridge Michaels more as a result.

“Bloody hell,” Pipe swore.

Turning to look forward, Cora saw what had Pipe so upset. Sometime between when they’d arrived at the house and now, a storm had moved in. The wind was blowing so much sand around, they could’ve been in the middle of the Sahara Desert instead of Phoenix.

“Can Stone fly in this?” Cora asked worriedly.

It wasn’t Pipe who answered, but Owl from behind her. “Piece of cake. Come on, move.”

Pipe leaned down and managed to open the door without dropping Cora, then stepped outside into the maelstrom.

Cora immediately shut her eyes, the sand hitting her face like little pieces of glass. She huddled into Pipe as well as she could.

Over the sound of the wind screaming around them, she heard the familiar chuff of helicopter rotors. She squinted her eyes open and was surprised to see the large aircraft so close. The rotors blades were kicking up even more sand all around them.

Before she knew it, Pipe had placed her inside the chopper on a back seat, then leaped up without seemingly any effort next to her. He helped her scoot over before turning back to the door. He took Lara from Owl’s arms so his friend could jump into the chopper. Pipe sat beside her and, as gently as possible, propped up Lara on the remaining seat to his right, buckling her in, then wrapping an arm around her to keep her steady.

“You’re late!” Stone yelled from the pilot’s seat.

“Sorry, had some trouble!” Pipe yelled back.

Owl turned in his seat next to Stone to stare at Lara for a moment, then met Cora’s gaze.

“She’s gonna be okay,” he told her firmly.

It felt as if there was more he wanted to say, but Stone yelled at him to get his “ass in gear” so they could get the fuck out of there.

Without another word, Owl turned and faced forward. And before her eyes, the man who seemed so uncertain at times morphed into someone Cora had never seen.

Even shirtless, he oozed confidence as he donned a set of headphones and began to flick switches and buttons.

“Hang on!” Stone called back to Pipe and Cora. “This isn’t going to be a smooth takeoff!”

Movement in her peripheral vision made Cora turn. She saw several men waving their arms and yelling something, but she couldn’t hear them. They were running out of the house, toward the chopper.

It was the man at the back of the group who she couldn’t take her eyes off, though.

It was Creepy Guy. He wasn’t yelling. Wasn’t running toward them. He was simply standing at the door, staring at the helicopter as if his gaze alone could make it crash and burn.

Blood still ran down his face but his expression was blank. He was literally the coldest, creepiest man Cora had ever seen in her life. The thought of him anywhere near her, or Lara, made her blood run cold. No wonder the FBI had him on their most wanted list. He was a menace to society, and any woman unlucky enough to come into contact with him was in extreme danger. She knew that down to her bones.

“Here we go!” Stone yelled.

The chopper lurched upward, and Cora yelped as she reached for something to hold on to. She found Pipe.

“Holy crap, this thing sucks,” Owl said, almost conversationally as he struggled to help Stone fly the chopper.

“When we talk to Brick about getting a helicopter for The Refuge, we’re getting a Bell. Maybe a 505. This R66 is fine in calm weather, but shit for conditions like this,” Stone replied.

Pipe had motioned to her before they’d taken off to put on a pair of headphones so they could all talk to each other, but at the moment, Cora wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what else the ex-Night Stalkers had to say.

The two men continued to bitch about the small private chopper they’d “borrowed” as they fought against the wind and sand.

Pipe wrapped his free arm around her, and Cora was relieved. Having him next to her somehow made everything a little less scary. Cora only had one arm she could use, and she grabbed hold of Pipe’s hand on her shoulder when the helicopter shuddered. She’d never been in a helicopter before, and this flight was terrifying. She had confidence in Stone and Owl, she’d read about the famous Night Stalker pilots when she’d researched The Refuge, but how the hell they were still in the air with the wind and sand whipping so hard, was beyond her.

When she looked back at the house they’d just escaped, as they rose higher and higher, Creepy Guy wasn’t there anymore. He’d disappeared from view—and a shiver ran through her.

She suddenly wished Pipe had killed him. Had made sure he wouldn’t be around to haunt them ever again.

Pipe leaned toward her slightly, and Cora turned and buried her nose in his neck, breathing in his familiar scent. So much had happened so quickly, but this man had yet to let her down. When it meant the most, he’d done everything in his power to make sure she was safe. That was more than anyone in her entire life had done for her. She figured some psychologist somewhere would caution her, tell her that what she felt for Pipe was some savior complex, because of her lack of affection growing up. That there was no way she was truly in love with him…but they’d be wrong.

Feeling sick now from the way the chopper was swaying and jerking in the storm, she squeezed her eyes shut. Her arm was screaming in pain, her butt hurt from where she’d landed on it, and her head throbbed from hitting the wall.

But she was alive, and they had found Lara. She’d go through it all again if it meant being where she was right now. Scared out of her mind, but safe.

As if he could read her thoughts, Pipe spoke softly. She barely heard him over Owl and Stone’s conversation about getting them out of there without crashing.

“You’re good. I’ve got you.”

Yeah, he did. She was hurt, Lara was obviously traumatized, and they might still die in a horrific helicopter crash, not to mention they might be prosecuted for stealing the chopper…but Cora didn’t care. They’d deal with the fallout from the last few hours later. For now, she was content to be alive and with the man she loved.